IPL 2020 | David Warner is batting with freedom with Wriddhiman Saha at the top, opines Joy Bhattacharjya 

Hyderabad skipper David Warner didn’t quite have a dynamic start to this edition of IPL as he looked rusty and at times too conservative for his own good. However, in the last few games, since the inclusion of Wriddhiman Saha, who has been in good form - scoring an unbeaten fifty in the last match itself, Warner has been able to play his normal game as he now has enough depth in the batting lineup with Jason Holder coming in after Kane Williamson. 

After the dominating win against Mumbai, where Warner’s 58-ball 85 and Saha’s 45-ball 58 helped Hyderabad win the game by 10 wickets, Joy Bhattacharjya opined that Saha’s inclusion in the side has helped Warner play with much more freedom, not worrying about getting out.  

“Such an important thing is freedom. Freedom of batting or I hate to use that term ‘expressing themselves’ because the moment Warner knows that Saha is getting some runs at the other end and trying hard and the moment he knows there’s not just Williamson - there’s Williamson and Holder sitting there outside - he’s just saying I’ll just go and play my game,” Bhattacharjya said in a video of Cricbuzz. 

Bhattacharjya further iterated his point by giving the example of the lofted cross-batted shot that Warner plays and insisted that the Aussie would not be playing that shot if he was playing safe. 

“He hits that cross-batted shot which he whacks and is always in the air, but he backs himself to hit the gap. He always hits it. Now, if he was playing completely safe, he wouldn’t hit that shot,” he added.